Waukesha Christmas Parade Attack: Trial, Sentence, and Aftermath

The Waukesha Christmas parade attack took place on November 21, 2021, when Darrell Brooks Jr. drove a red Ford Escape through police barricades and into the parade route on Main Street in Waukesha, Wisconsin, killing six people and injuring more than sixty others. Brooks, who had been released from a Milwaukee County jail on $1,000 bail ten days earlier in a domestic abuse case, was convicted of 76 criminal counts and sentenced to six consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole, plus hundreds of additional years of confinement.

What Happened at the Parade

The parade was underway at about 4:39 p.m. when Brooks drove through a police barricade and into the crowd.¹ The SUV struck 68 people at speeds prosecutors later estimated at roughly 30 miles per hour, moving through marchers and spectators without stopping.² A Waukesha police officer fired at the vehicle but stopped shooting because too many bystanders were in the path. No one was hit by the gunfire.

Brooks fled the scene and was apprehended a short distance away.³ Police issued a shelter-in-place order for a half-mile radius around downtown, roads stayed closed for at least 24 hours, and Waukesha public schools were closed the next day.¹ Waukesha Fire Chief Steve Howard described the scene as a “war zone.”⁴

The Victims

Six people were killed. Three were members of the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies, a performance group that had marched in Wisconsin holiday parades for nearly four decades:⁵

Virginia Sorenson, 79, of the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies.
LeAnna Owen, 71, of the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies.
Tamara Durand, 52, of the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies.
Wilhelm Hospel, 81, a volunteer who assisted the Dancing Grannies.
Jane Kulich, 52, marching on behalf of her employer, Citizens Bank.
Jackson Sparks, 8, the youngest victim, who died on November 23 after brain surgery. His 12-year-old brother, Tucker, suffered a fractured skull.

More than 60 additional people were injured. At least 18 children between the ages of 3 and 16 were treated at Children’s Wisconsin, ten of them admitted to the intensive care unit and six in critical condition.³ Members of the Waukesha Xtreme Dance Team were seriously hurt, with five dancers placed in the ICU.⁵ Victims were transported to six area hospitals by fire department ambulances, law enforcement vehicles, and civilian bystanders.⁴

Who Darrell Brooks Was and Why He Was Free

Brooks had a criminal record going back to 1999, spanning Wisconsin and Nevada. His Wisconsin convictions included substantial battery in 1999, strangulation and suffocation in 2010, and multiple counts of drug possession, resisting officers, and bail jumping.⁶ In Nevada, he was convicted in 2006 of statutory sexual seduction involving a 15-year-old girl and was required to register as a sex offender. He was later arrested for failing to comply with registration requirements, posted bail, and skipped court. At the time of the parade attack, an active Nevada warrant for that failure to appear was outstanding but had never been entered into the National Crime Information Center, so it did not appear when Milwaukee authorities checked his background.⁷

In July 2020, Brooks was charged with multiple felonies in Milwaukee County for allegedly shooting at his nephew. His cash bond in that case started at $10,000, was reduced to $7,500, and then dropped to $500 after prosecutors could not meet a speedy trial demand. He posted the $500 in February 2021.⁸

Then, on November 5, 2021, just sixteen days before the parade attack, Brooks was charged with second-degree recklessly endangering safety, felony bail jumping, battery, obstructing an officer, and disorderly conduct for allegedly running over the mother of his child in a gas station parking lot.⁸ Court Commissioner Cedric Cornwall set cash bail at $1,000, even though a pretrial risk assessment labeled Brooks “very high risk for committing a new crime.”⁹ Brooks’s mother posted the $1,000 on November 11, and he walked out of jail.⁶

No transcript or audio recording of the November 5 bail hearing existed, which court officials attributed to “technical issues.”⁹ The day after the attack, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm said the bail his office had recommended was “inappropriately low in light of the nature of the recent charges and the pending charges” and was “not consistent with the approach of the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office toward matters involving violent crime.”⁸ His office opened an internal review.

Motive

Law enforcement officials said they found no clear motive. Investigators noted Brooks appeared to have been fleeing a domestic disturbance immediately before driving through the parade route. Waukesha Police Chief Daniel Thompson stated on November 22 that the incident “was not a terrorist event.” The ADL’s Center on Extremism found “little evidence that Brooks actively subscribes to an overarching extremist ideology or is a member of any organized group,” though it identified conspiratorial and antisemitic content he had shared on social media in 2015.¹⁰

The Trial

Brooks was charged in Waukesha County Circuit Court with 76 criminal counts, including six counts of first-degree intentional homicide, 61 counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, six counts of hit-and-run causing death, two counts of felony bail jumping, and one count of battery.¹¹ He initially entered a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease, then withdrew that plea in September 2022.¹²

After his public defender moved to withdraw, Brooks asked to represent himself. Judge Jennifer Dorow granted the request, finding him mentally competent and ruling that he had made a “deliberate choice.”¹³ His mother wrote to the judge saying she did not believe he was mentally stable enough to do so.¹²

The trial began on October 3, 2022, and was marked by constant disruption. Brooks was removed from the main courtroom repeatedly, first just five minutes into jury selection. He ripped up a jury chart, appeared shirtless on one occasion, threatened to throw objects, and stuffed an objection sign down the front of his pants. When he was excluded, he watched proceedings on video from an adjacent courtroom.¹⁴

Brooks repeatedly invoked “sovereign citizen” ideology, refusing to recognize his own name, demanding the judge prove “subject matter jurisdiction,” and attempting to call the “State of Wisconsin” to the witness stand.¹⁴ Judge Dorow ruled that sovereign citizen beliefs had “no validity in American law” and barred their use as a defense, telling Brooks the arguments had been “debunked throughout the ages.”¹⁵

Waukesha County District Attorney Susan Opper built the prosecution’s case around intent. Her central argument was that Brooks kept driving after striking the first person and did not stop until there were, as she put it, “no more bodies to hit.” She countered Brooks’s claim that he had been honking his horn to warn people by arguing the honking proved he could see them and chose to keep going. When Brooks suggested a throttle malfunction, Opper pointed to testimony from a Wisconsin State Patrol inspector who examined the SUV and found it in good working order. She closed by playing video of the attack for the jury.¹⁶

On October 26, 2022, the jury found Brooks guilty on all 76 counts after deliberating for fewer than three hours.¹³

The Sentence

The sentencing hearing took place on November 15 and 16, 2022, and was briefly interrupted by a mass shooting threat at the Waukesha County Courthouse.¹² More than 40 victims and family members delivered impact statements over the two days.¹⁷ Brooks addressed the court for more than two hours, spoke about his faith and mental health, denied that the attack was intentional, and asked to be sent somewhere he could “be helped.” He told the court, “I want you to know that not only am I sorry for what happened, I’m sorry that you could not see what’s truly in my heart.” He was removed from the courtroom multiple times during the hearing.

Judge Dorow imposed six consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole, one for each person killed. For the 61 counts of recklessly endangering safety, she imposed 17.5 years per count, totaling 762.5 years of initial confinement and 305 years of extended supervision. The two bail-jumping convictions carried three years each, and the domestic battery count carried nine months. Dorow told Brooks, “This community can only be safe if you are behind bars for the rest of your life,” and said he showed “no remorse” and “no empathy.”¹⁷

Where the Case Stands Now

Brooks was transferred out of Wisconsin to the South Dakota State Penitentiary in January 2025. The Wisconsin Department of Corrections cited security concerns and his own safety because of the notoriety of his crimes, and moved him through an interstate compact that allows inmates to serve sentences in other states.¹⁸

In December 2025, Judge Dorow granted Brooks’s request to represent himself on appeal, and his court-appointed attorney, Michael Covey, was allowed to withdraw. The State Public Defender’s office said it would not appoint successor counsel if Brooks changed his mind.¹⁹ Since early 2024, Brooks had received ten extensions on deadlines to file for post-conviction relief. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals set a final deadline of January 7, 2026, and said no further extensions would be granted.²⁰ Brooks missed that deadline. Rather than filing his appeal, he challenged statements by the Wisconsin Department of Justice and prison officials about his access to legal materials, arguing that prison lockdowns hindered his preparation and that he never received a flash drive of case files from his former attorney. On January 12, 2026, the Court of Appeals ordered state officials to respond to his latest motion but made no immediate ruling on his request for more time or an evidentiary hearing.²¹

Changes to Parade Security and Bail Law

Waukesha moved its annual Christmas parade to the week after Thanksgiving to ensure more availability of police, fire, and hospital resources. The city designated a single permanent parade route, established new security perimeters, and began deploying mobile vehicle barriers to block traffic along the route. Federal funds were allocated for additional technology, training, and equipment for special event safety.²²

At the state level, Representative Cindi Duchow and Senator Van Wanggaard introduced legislation to require judges and commissioners to weigh a defendant’s dangerousness and criminal record when setting bail, going beyond Wisconsin’s existing framework, which primarily tied bail to ensuring a defendant’s appearance in court.²³ In March 2023, the legislature passed a bill establishing a new definition of “violent crimes” covering more than 100 offenses, contingent on voter approval of two bail-related constitutional amendment questions on the April 2023 ballot.²⁴ Congressman Scott Fitzgerald introduced the Keeping Violent Offenders Off Our Streets Act on the fourth anniversary of the attack, targeting charitable bail funds by subjecting them to federal background check requirements.²⁵

Memorials and Community Recovery

In January 2022, Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly established a Parade Memorial Commission to select locations, commission designs, oversee construction, and raise funds. The commission included city officials, first responders, school district representatives, and family members of those killed, including Taylor Kulich and Sheri Sparks.²⁶

A memorial on Main Street at the Five Points intersection was dedicated in November 2023. A larger $1.5 million memorial at Grede Park was dedicated on November 21, 2024, the third anniversary. The park memorial features a 13-foot sculpture of six intertwined concrete ribbons forming a heart, one for each victim, surrounded by a wall of more than 1,200 clay tiles created by community members. Each night at 4:39 p.m., the time the vehicle entered the parade route, the memorial illuminates blue for six minutes.²⁶²⁷

The Milwaukee Dancing Grannies made their first public appearance on December 4, 2021, at a Christmas parade in Franklin, Wisconsin, marching in honor of those who died. They later recruited new members and resumed performing.²⁸ The Waukesha Resiliency Center, run by United Way, has provided ongoing mental health support and counseling. Waukesha has continued to hold its annual Christmas Parade, with the 61st annual event held in December 2024.²⁷

1
ABC News. 20 Injured After Car Drives Into Christmas Parade in Wisconsin
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CNN. Waukesha Christmas Parade Trial
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The New York Times. Waukesha Parade Crash
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Rev. Waukesha Wisconsin Update Press Conference Transcript
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CNN. Waukesha Wisconsin Parade Victims
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Fox 6 Now. Darrell Brooks Trial – Criminal History
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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. History of Waukesha Parade Suspect Darrell Brooks and Law Enforcement
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WisPolitics. Milwaukee DA Chisholm Statement Re Darrell E. Brooks
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Fox 6 Now. Darrell Brooks Freed on Bond Before Parade, No Record of Hearing
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ADL. Alleged Waukesha Attacker Shared Conspiratorial Antisemitic Content in 2015
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WISN. Darrell Brooks Verdict – Waukesha Parade
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ABC News. Darrell Brooks Sentenced for Deadly Christmas Parade Attack
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Wisconsin Public Radio. Darrell Brooks Found Guilty on All Charges in Waukesha Parade Tragedy
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Fox 6 Now. Darrell Brooks Trial Week 1 Recap
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Court TV. From the Bench: Is Sovereign Citizenship a Defense?
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WDSU. Waukesha Suspect Closing Arguments
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CNN. Darrell Brooks Waukesha Sentencing
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Waukesha Freeman. Brooks Moved Out of State for Safety Reasons
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WISN. Darrell Brooks Could Represent Himself Again During Appeal
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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Darrell Brooks Given Appeal Deadline in Waukesha Christmas Parade Case
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Wisconsin Law Journal. Brooks Misses Appeal Deadline, Challenges DOJ Claims
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Wisconsin Public Radio. New Date for Waukesha Christmas Parade Promises Increased Safety
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Axios. Waukesha Bail Reform Legislation
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PBS Wisconsin. Wisconsin Legislature Passes Bill in Anticipation of Cash Bail Amendment
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Congressman Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald Leads WI House Delegation in Remembrance of Waukesha Christmas Parade
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City of Waukesha. Waukesha Parade Memorial
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Wisconsin Public Radio. Waukesha Christmas Parade Attack Memorial 2024
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ABC7 New York. Dancing Grannies Killed in Waukesha Christmas Parade